


For You Only

by asofthesea



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Anti-Hero, Dark Tony Stark, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Hydra Peter Parker, Kidnapping, Kinda but not really, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Soulmates, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Villain Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-09 14:31:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19477849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asofthesea/pseuds/asofthesea
Summary: In a world full of soulmates, Tony Stark doesn't have one. He deals with it until he can't anymore, and by the time he gets one, he's too far gone.(A Peter & Tony platonic soulmates AU)





	1. Part One

“And how do you feel about not having any soulmates?”

Tony rolls his eyes. He can’t believe his mom made him get therapy just because he mentioned he was a little upset that he didn’t have any soulmates.

It wasn’t uncommon for someone to only have one, but to have none was basically unheard of. On the right wrist was the name of your soulmate that you would love. Sometimes, it was a romantic relationship, and other times it was strictly platonic. However, this person was your perfect match, they made you feel whole.

On your left wrist, was the name of your sworn enemy. People who just had a name on their left wrist had explained how having someone to hate and antagonize filled them with a sense of purpose when they felt like they were missing a connection with their other half.

“I feel nothing.”

He wasn’t lying to Cecilia. He doesn’t feel love, hate, or a sense of purpose. He just feels nothing. He wished he had at least one soulmate so that he could feel something, but he didn’t feel anything.

Cecilia purses her lips and asks, “Why do you think that is, Anthony?”

“I think it’s because apparently I’m not good enough to be loved and not even important enough to hate.”

Yeah, soulmates were a sensitive subject for him.

“Just because you don’t have any soulmates does not mean you aren’t worthy of love. Your parents love you. You can still have friends and relationships, even if you don’t have any soulmates. My husband is not my soulmate, and I still love him very much.”

“Maybe so,” Tony agrees. Sure, he doesn’t have a good relationship with his father, but he does love his mother and he knows that she loves him, too.

He decides that maybe with a little more therapy and time with others, he might be able to forge his own relationships and find something else to live for.

It works, for a while. It’s a suitable distraction, at the very least. He works for his father creating tech and spends more time with his mother and Rhodey, a friend that took him under his wing at MIT.

When it finally seems like he might be able to live his life without a soulmate, December 16th, 1991 rolls around. He barely notices as his parents leave for a few days, something they have been doing more and more often lately.

He gets the call at 3 am and rushes to the hospital to learn that both of his parents had died. His mom was dead. Suddenly he couldn’t remember what the point of living even was. When he gets home, he intends to end his life. He lost his mom, his drive to create tech, so what was his purpose?

As he holds the razor to his inner wrist, where his enemy’s name should be, he pauses. Just because he doesn’t have anyone specific to antagonize doesn’t mean that he can’t still find purpose in it. There are other ways besides relationships to feel something, and he might just have to try some out.

He tells Rhodey off at the funeral and says he never wants to hear from him again. His old friend lets him know to call him whenever he needs, but Tony just watched him walk away. It’s for the best, Rhodey would just try to stop him anyways.

Most of his nights are spent getting blackout drunk and sleeping with another nameless hottie. Obadiah lets him drown himself in liquor and takes over control of the company, not that he really cares anyway. Stark Industries never really meant anything to him.

He thinks that maybe the liquor or the women (and a few men) will help him to feel something, anything, but he still feels nothing. He doesn’t just feel nothing anymore, he feels empty.

That doesn’t stop him from finding endless partners hoping that he’ll meet someone that will make him feel something.

He doesn’t. He doesn’t feel anything until August 10th, 2001. He hadn’t even had his coffee yet when he feels burning on his wrists.

After a few moments, the burning fades to a dull pain. He focuses his eyes on his right wrist and sees the name written, _Peter Parker_. He can’t help but feel joy. He isn’t unlovable, he isn’t unimportant. That name is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

When his head turns to look at his left wrist, his blood runs cold. It reads, _Peter Parker_ , also. That can’t be good.

He is messed up. He was finally given a soulmate and he’s going to fuck it up so bad that they become enemies. What would the point even be to meet this person? It would hurt more than anything to have the person who is supposed to fit perfectly into his life hate him.

Destiny is a bunch of bullshit, he decides, and he is going to do everything he can to avoid Peter Parker.

It is one thing to be born with knowing both of your soulmates. It is another thing for both soulmates to be the same person. It is a whole different thing entirely for that person to be Tony Stark, Iron Man.

Once Peter was old enough to learn about soulmates, he had asked his parents why each of his wrists had the same name. They avoided his question, then he had to ask May and Ben.

They had explained to him that while he and Tony were made for each other, something was probably going to happen to make them hate each other.

To be honest, he didn’t see why he would ever get along with someone like Tony Stark.

The media had dubbed him an anti-hero. Sure, he had flown a nuke through a wormhole to save New York, but he had also killed dozens of people that dared to disagree with him. He helped to take down Ultron only after it went out of his own control. He created the robot in an attempt to make people listen to him and do as he said.

He saved the day a few times, but more often than not, he ruined it.

Peter didn’t understand how his soulmate could be someone who was so merciless, and only cared for himself. He knew that Tony was also his enemy, though.

Even though he knew he should be trying to take down Iron Man, when Falcon approached him and asked him to join Captain America in taking down Iron Man once and for all, he couldn’t do it. He could just hope to avoid Iron Man as long as he could and just stay close to the ground as Spider-Man, helping out the little guy.

He wonders if Tony knew he was Spider-Man and was just avoiding him, or if he honestly had no idea. They had never seen each other and they seemed to have a silent agreement that they never wanted to meet. It was one thing to have an enemy, but to have that enemy be the person you were supposed to love the most? Peter didn’t think he could handle it.

So he went to school and spent his nights as Spider-Man. He watched as Captain America tried, and failed to arrest Iron Man. There was a big fight between the Avengers apparently. Some of them thought Tony was worth saving and that he was part of the team, while others saw a different side of him.

Peter saw both sides from watching him on the news. He had seen it once in person, at the Stark Expo, as Iron Man saved his life before he murdered Justin Hammer.

Going home from school one day, he wasn’t paying attention. He was on the phone with Ned rambling on about decathlon and MJ. He didn’t see the door of the building open and someone walk right out. To be fair, his Spider-Sense had not warned him at all.

“Woah there kid, are you okay?”

Peter hears the nicest voice he’s ever heard come from above him. He looks up and has to squint against the sun to see him, Tony. Tony Stark.

He quickly hangs up the phone with Ned and starts gathering the few books he dropped on the sidewalk. As he stands, there is a hand on his elbow, helping him up.

“I’m fine,” Peter barely manages to get out.

Suddenly it’s very hot.

“What’s your name, kid?” Tony Stark, his soulmate asks. His enemy asks. Peter didn’t want this. This is what he wanted to avoid, meeting Tony like ever.

Then it hits him, Tony has no idea who he is. Why is his brain moving so slow?

“Um, my name is Benjamin, uh Leeds.”

Tony raises an eyebrow and asks, “Did you hit your head? You seem a little unsure of yourself there, Benjamin.”

“I got to go. That’s what I’m gonna do, I’m gonna go,” Peter says before shouldering past his soulmate, trying to focus on just putting on foot in front of the other. Since when did walking become so hard?

He was paying so much attention to his feet that he almost bumped into Tony Stark again, who is now standing right in front of him.

The man puts his hands on Peter’s shoulders and says, “Hey Benny, you don’t look so good, why don’t we have you looked at?”

“What do you mean?” Peter asks, brain still moving impossibly slow.

“What I mean is that you look like your about to pass out and I don’t want a lawsuit just because you ran into me. I have a Medbay back at Stark Tower that we can have you checked out at.”

Peter wants to scream and shout that he won’t go anywhere with him. He doesn’t trust him, he shouldn’t trust him, but he doesn’t say any of that.

He can hear his heart beating in his ears, the pounding. It’s the only thing he can hear, actually. Then, he passes out.

When Peter regains consciousness, there is a lot of white. He wishes for just a moment that he’s dead. That he didn’t actually meet his soulmate.

He looks over to his left to see Tony Stark studying him as if he is the most complex puzzle in the world, which is weird for a genius. He notices he is laying in what looks like is a hospital bed.

However, he can’t take his eyes off of Tony, not with the way the other man is staring at him. Peter doesn’t know what to say, and he doesn’t want to be the one to break the silence.

It doesn’t take long for Tony to break the silence.

He grabs hold of Peter’s arm and shoves his shirt sleeve down to show his wrist.

“So, Benjamin Leeds, huh?”

Peter isn’t dumb, he knows how soulmates work. Since he has _Tony Stark_ written on both wrists, he knows Tony has _Peter Parker_ on both of his. Tony isn’t dumb either, and Peter can’t think of a way out of this.

Peter pulls his arm back and bites out, “What did you want me to say, huh? Did you want me to tell you the truth? I just wanted to avoid this whole situation for, like, ever, but you just had to keep pushing and you wouldn’t leave me alone! If you just left me alone we would never have to deal with this!”

His voice raised to a shout, but he couldn’t help it. This was frustrating, Peter never wanted this, and now he had to deal with it.

Tony sighs and says, “I get that this is a crappy situation, Peter, but we need to talk about this.”

Peter huffs, “What is there to talk about? I get that we’re soulmates, okay? I’m not a toddler, I understand that. I also understand that we’re enemies so we’ll never really be soulmates. This is just so screwed up that we should just never talk to each other again.”

“I think that we need to talk about this,” Tony disagrees.

“Fine, you want to talk about it? Should we talk about how we’ll never be happy with each other? Should we talk about how I had to listen to all of my friends talk about how they couldn’t wait to meet their soulmate and become their best friend and grow happy together and realize that I would never get that? Is that what you want to talk about?” Peter rambles.

Tony looks down at his hands and says, “Look, I know this is ideal. I’ve been avoiding this, too. I knew since the day you were born that this would be messy. I know you’re Spider-Man and I’ve done my best to avoid you, but fate brought us together. I worry that if we ignore each other it will bring us together again in a worse way.”

“What are you saying?” Peter asks, confused. He feels less angry now, but still he keeps his guard up.

“What I’m saying is that we may be best friends or enemies or whatever, but we should at least try to do this ourselves before the universe does this to us.”

Peter shakes his head and says, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Then, he leaves.


	2. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the amazing feedback on the last chapter, here is the next one, enjoy!

Tony is not known for helping people. Yeah, maybe he’s saved the world a few times, but he doesn’t try to get involved in any other cases. He just does what’s best for himself.

Peter Parker is an exception to this rule. Sure, it hurt when the kid flat out rejected him as a soulmate, but he can’t really blame him. Tony had every opportunity to introduce himself to the kid, and he kept chickening out. He could have had the perfect opportunity to approach Peter and ask for Spider-Man’s help when Captain America tried to arrest him just because he was trying to kill his friend.

He understands now though, that they have to be together. He knows that if they don’t become close and act like soulmates, then something is going to happen to make them become enemies. He really does not want to hurt the kid, he might not even be able to. It terrifies him.

When he gets a notification from the tracker he planted on the kid’s suit that he is a few thousand feet up in the air and starts dropping at an unusual rate, he is already sending a suit out to his location.

He has a suit ready for Peter, but he knows he’ll never accept it. He hates watching him go out in that spandex though, risking his life. Maybe with some time, Peter will come around and he can give him the suit.

He operates the Iron Man suit as he pulls Peter out of a lake and sets him on some playground equipment.

“What are you doing here?” Peter asks.

“I’m not actually, uh, here,” Tony says and lets his face mask open up to prove that point to Peter, “and I’m saving your ass, you’re welcome.”

“I didn’t ask for you to save me.”

“And you clearly had that situation handled,” Tony retorts, “but seriously, who was that guy?”

Peter shrugs and says, “They’re dealing with some illegal alien weapons and I’ve got to take him down, not that you’d understand anything about that.”

Tony rolls his eyes even though he knows that Peter can’t see him.

“I have some connections with the FBI and we can have this thing handled, don’t worry about it, okay kid?”

Peter scoffs, “Don’t worry about it? These weapons are dangerous and they are out on the streets. People could get hurt and if they do then that’s on me if I just walk away! God, don’t you get it?”

Tony does get it. He remembers seeing the Stark Industries Logo on that missile and he gets it. That doesn’t mean he wants Peter risking his life to fight these guys and take down the very dangerous, very illegal alien weapons dealing they seem to be doing.

“If you think that it’s bigger than the FBI, then I’ve got a few Avengers who owe me one.”

Peter groans and says, “You just don’t get it, okay? So leave me alone.”

“Very well,” Tony says before he logs offline.

Peter hasn’t heard from Tony since he saved him from the lake. Maybe some part of him had been relieved and even a little happy when he realized that Iron Man saved him, but that had quickly melted into frustration once he actually started talking to the man.

He tried to push Tony out of his mind, but that seemed impossible lately. Everywhere he went he wondered if Tony would like this or if Tony would be proud of him for doing this.

He realized that Tony was a bad person, though, and he had to keep his distance. If he became too close to Tony he would have to witness the bad stuff he did, and he did not want to do that.

A week or so after the lake incident, he is patrolling. He has been going at it since school was let out. Since today is Friday, he can stay up later than usual patrolling, then sleep in tomorrow.

He pulls his phone out and notices that it is 4 am. He should probably head back to his apartment and get to bed soon.

As he is swinging home, he hears some commotion in a nearby alley. He decides to check it out then continue on home.

When he swings down and lands in an alley, he is not expecting to see what he sees.

Iron Man is beating up three guys while two more lay hopefully just unconscious a few steps away.

“What the hell?” Peter exclaims. He knows that Tony is a bad guy, but he’s never seen him in action before.

He must have surprised Tony because the suit of armor turns to look at him and one of the men pulls out some sort of gun and fires it at Tony. His suit seems to malfunction with the electric currents running through it that came from the weapon. Peter can’t explain what he does next.

He webs the gun that shot Tony’s suit and yanks it away from the man, and it flies past him. One man charges him and receives a swift punch to the face that knocks him out. Another man takes out a sword and slices it towards Peter. He has to bend over backwards to avoid being sliced in half.

While the man is finishing his swing, Peter takes the opportunity to roundhouse kick him in the chest, sending the man in the opposite direction. He catches a punch the third man tries to throw at him.

He twists the man’s arm and asks, “Who the fuck are you?”

Before the man has a chance to respond, he is hit in the back with a repulsor blast. That’s when Peter snaps back to himself.

Oh my god.

He had hurt these people, like really hurt them. Usually he just tried to keep them contained until the authorities arrived, but he was trying to hurt them, he knows he was.

“Oh my god,” Peter says, “I didn’t mean to I- I swear.”

Tony doesn’t respond, he just lifts Peter up hooking his arms under his armpits and blasts them off into the air. Usually Peter would try to resist this, but he is still trying to process what he just did. He can’t believe what he just did.

It barely registers as they land on a rooftop and his mask is taken off his face. That’s nice, helps him to breathe in the fresh air.

“I don’t know why I did that,” Peter confesses.

Tony steps out of the Iron Man suit and responds, “You saw your soulmate in danger and your instincts took over.”

Peter shakes his head and denies, “That can’t be right.”

“I know that you like to deny the connection that we have, but what I’m saying is true, why do you think that I was fighting those men in the first place?”

“Because you are a bad person and you feel joy from hurting others?” Peter guesses, although he knows that’s not the answer.

“No,” Tony scoffs, “I did it because they were tailing you and were trying to figure out your secret identity.”

“What? Why would they be interested in me?”

“Because you got closer to the alien weapons than they would like and they wanted to have some blackmail material on you in case you got closer. When I learned this I didn’t think, I just went after them. I knew they had to be stopped to protect you.”

“Oh,” Peter says, because what are you supposed to say to that?

Tony sighs and asks, “Are you okay?” He can hear the worry clear in his soulmate’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just think my adrenaline is crashing, though. I’ll be okay.”

Tony nods and orders, “Now go straight home, do you understand me?”

Peter wants to fight him and tell him that he’s not his dad and he can stay out as late as he wants. Instead, he simply says, “Okay.”

“Okay? Not that I’m complaining, but I was expecting more resistance on that,” Tony replies, shock evident in his tone.

“I’m pretty tired, and I was headed home anyway when I found you,” Peter admits.

Tony nods and steps back into the suit. Before the man can get too far, Peter grabs the arm of the suit and says, “Wait.”

His faceplate lifts up and Tony asks, sounding slightly confused and curious, “What is it, Peter?”

He can do this. He wants to do this. This feels right, so he should just do it. He should just say what’s on his mind. After the night they’ve both had, he owes it to himself and to Tony.

He takes a deep, steadying breath before he confesses, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Tony looks surprised. Peter has really only ever been hostile towards him with the exception of tonight. When he saw Tony in danger with his suit disabled, he knew there wasn’t a thing in the world that would stop him from trying to keep him safe. As much as he hates to admit it, he cares about Tony, and he needs him.

“I’m glad you’re okay too, kid.”

They share one last look before Tony blasts off into the sky. Peter sighs and pulls his mask back on. Now, it’s time to actually go home. He swings off into the night and webs into the alley where he left his backpack.

To his luck, his backpack is still there along with all of his other belongings. He makes sure no one is around before he quickly changes into the clothes he was wearing earlier today. As he’s stuffing his suit back in his backpack, he hears someone walking towards him.

He realizes that he’s in danger, but he doesn’t know what to do as he has four men coming from each side of the alley. He can’t exactly scale the wall to escape them all.

Before he can decide how he is going to get out of this, he feels a prick in the back of his neck. His last thought before he loses consciousness is that he wishes Tony were here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that this story will have 5 parts. I will put that once I'm sure, but I still have some editing to do before I know for sure. Let me know what you think! If you have any questions about the timeline or Tony's past with the Avengers, let me know, and I'll be happy to answer them about this story!


	3. Part Three

God, Tony feels like a stupid clingy teenager.

He thought after Peter had saved him that things would begin to improve between them, but the kid hasn’t been responding to his texts over the last few days. He didn’t normally, but it was still worrying.

To make matters worse, Spider-Man hadn’t been spotted since Friday night. Tony didn’t know if the kid was hurt and refusing help. Maybe he just felt bad about hurting those men when he was trying to protect his soulmate, the kid did have a magnificent guilt complex.

Tony finally gives in and tracks the kid’s phone. After a few minutes, he has a location. He is surprised to see Peter on the streets and not at his apartment as he thought. He takes a car to the location to remain as inconspicuous as possible. The phone hasn’t moved since he began tracking it. He quickly pulls over and rushes out of the car.

“Peter?” Tony asks, heading down the alley.

He doesn’t get a response, so Tony looks all over, even in the dumpster. He doesn’t find the kid, but he does find his backpack. He doesn’t have a good feeling about this. He rummages through the kid’s backpack and finds his phone, suit, and school supplies. 

After taking a moment to think about his next course of action, Tony makes his way back to the car. Maybe Peter left his backpack or he lost it in a fight. There has to be a perfectly reasonable reason as to why Peter left his backpack.

When he arrives at Peter’s apartment, he knocks on the door. His aunt answers and quickly asks, “What do you want?”

“I was looking for Peter,” He just needs to know that the kid’s okay so that he can chill the fuck out, “I saw he left his backpack and I wanted to return it to him.”

May opens the door further and allows Tony inside.

“He’s missing. Peter hasn’t been home since he left for school on Friday morning. I called the school and he was at all his classes on Friday, so something must have happened after that,” May says, rambling, “I just have no idea where he is. I’ve tried to get the police involved, but they think he’s a runaway. I know he wouldn’t do this, though. Peter wouldn’t do this to me.”

Tony says, “I’ve been trying to keep an eye on Peter from a distance, and I noticed he was being strangely inactive. I thought maybe he was just at home and had left his backpack and phone.”

He hands May the backpack, although he left Peter’s suit in his car. He rifles through it and pulls out his phone before sighing.

Tony promises, “I will look for him, and I won’t rest until I find him.”

May gives him a soft smile and says, “Thank you. I wasn’t sure how you two would work, but I have to say I’m glad he’s got you in his corner.”

Tony nods and gives May his phone number. They promise to contact each other if they hear anything from Peter. Tony leaves and decides to head back to the tower to start searching for his kid. Searching for the kid. Not his kid.

He isn’t even ten minutes into his drive when he gets a text notification. What he sees almost makes him crash the car. He quickly pulls over and pulls out his phone to look better at the picture. It is Peter tied up to a chair along with an address.

Tony doesn’t need to think twice, he is already calling a suit to his location. Once it arrives he quickly enters and takes off towards the address. It crosses his mind that, yes, this could be a setup. It really doesn’t matter though. Setup or not, someone has Peter and he needs to find them.

When he arrives at the abandoned warehouse, he strolls through the front door, half expecting to see Peter tied to that chair in the middle of the poorly lit warehouse. Instead, it is totally empty. Suddenly metal doors come down on each wall, locking him in. He begins to use one of his heat rays to melt it, but he isn’t fast enough. There is a gas coming from a source he isn’t able to locate that is making his head feel all light and fuzzy. He makes a mental note for his next suit to have a filtration system.

Cold water pouring over his body is what wakes Tony up.

He takes a moment to become familiar with his surroundings. He is tied to a chair with ropes that he could easily slice through if he had a blade of some sort on him. A man is walking away from him with an empty bucket in his hand. That guy dies first, he decides.

There is another man standing in front of him, arms crossed. This is obviously the man in charge. Tony pays no attention to him, what he wants is standing behind that man, arms crossed in the same nonchalant gesture.

“Peter?” Tony asks.

His soulmate does not respond and keeps staring blankly at some point behind Tony’s head.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Tony demands to know.

“Looks like my hunch was right, we have finally found the great Iron Man’s weak spot,” the dick in charge says, “but since I know how curious you can get, I’ll tell you. It’s not like you’ll live to tell anyone else, anyway. Our scientists have spent years perfecting a formula that was meant to be used on the Winter Soldier. As long as he has the right chemicals flowing through his system, he will do whatever it is we ask of him.”

Tony stays silent, analyzing Peter. The kid doesn’t look like a single thought is going through his head. He is just standing at the ready, waiting for an order. The perfect Hydra soldier.

“However the serum can only be used on enhanced individuals such as Mr. Parker and the Winter Soldier. On regular men, it melts their mind. So, unfortunately, we can’t use it on you.”

“Then what do you want from me?” Tony asks.

“I want to break you, more specifically, I want him to break you,” the man says gesturing towards Peter, who remains unmoving.

“Good luck with that, I’ve been through some shit, and I don’t break easily.”

“But can even the great Iron Man withstand his soulmate torturing him? We’ll have to find out,” the man says, then turns to Peter and orders, “I want you to torture him, nice and slowly. Do to him what we did to you when you first arrived.”

Tony does not like the sound of that. Not only did they take control of Peter’s mind, but they tortured him. All of these guys are so fucking dead. Peter nods and grabs a knife that is offered to him. He walks towards Tony with purpose.

“Peter, you can fight this,” Tony pleads.

Peter just observes the knife in his hand and asks, “Why would I want to?”

“Because we’re soulmates,” Tony says, even though it should be obvious, “I care about you more than anything in the world, and I know that you care about me, too. Just try to fight it and we can get out of here, we can be together and be happy like you’ve always wanted.”

Tony can see the gears turning in Peter’s head, so he continues, “Peter, I want to spend time with you because I love you. You complete me in a way that I’ve never felt before, you’ve given me purpose. Please, come back to me.”

Peter cocks his head and says, “We may be soulmates, but we are also enemies. You are my enemy so I should eliminate you.”

The way he says it is as if it makes perfect sense. Really, Tony is a threat to Peter, so why shouldn’t Peter kill him? It is only for his own safety after all.

“I know, I know that you want to kill me. If you do, that’s okay, because I know you don’t have control, and I forgive you. I just worry about what you are going to miss out on. You’ll feel deep sorrow once I’m gone, and I don’t want you to feel that way. I’m trying to protect you, and if you were smart, you’d agree with me.”

Tony knows it’s a stretch. It’s likely the kid doesn’t even understand him with all of the chemicals messing with his mind. He has to try though, he doesn’t want to die. He also doesn’t want to die at the hands of his soulmate. He certainly does not want his soulmate with a huge guilt complex to have to deal with killing him.

“Torture him, Peter,” the man in charge orders.

“Yes, sir.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was definitely not my favorite part to write, but is is kind of a filler chapter. Let me know what you think, still!! This story will have five parts. They are written and just need to be edited. Hopefully they will both be up by the time I leave for vacation on Friday!!


	4. Part Four

The metal door swung open to reveal his soulmate.

Peter was as stiff as always. They had started to have more faith that they wouldn’t lose hold of Peter’s mind, so no one else was with him. They had dressed Peter like a Hydra soldier and it made him absolutely sick to his stomach to see.

Tony knew the routine. Peter would come in and talk for a few minutes, then began the torture. He would keep going until someone called for him through his earpiece. Then he left to do whatever they wanted him for. It was killing Tony, knowing that they had turned Peter into their perfect little soldier and he didn’t stop it.

“How are you today?” Tony asks.

Instead of getting a ‘shut up’ and a kick in the face like he had the first time he’d ask, he now just got an eye roll.

“I think we’ve established time and time again that I’m fine, and you really should be worrying about yourself. I don’t know how much more of this your old body can take.”

Tony was sure that he couldn’t take much more, but he didn’t need to. He just needed to make it far enough.

“I also thought that we had established that you are my soulmate and I care about you. I want to know how you are doing, even if it is just ‘fine.’” Tony argued back.

Peter studied him for a moment before he said, “It’s unfortunate that you feel that way.”

“I know, we really have a tough situation. We are enemies, but also soulmates. It used to be difficult to navigate how I felt about you, but I understand it now. We may be enemies, but we’re soulmates first and foremost. I made mistakes in the past that hurt our relationship and got us off to a bad start, and I’m sorry. Do what you must.”

“Do what you must? You aren’t going to even try to convince me that I should love you?” Peter asks, skepticism clear in his voice.

“Nope, because you’ll understand soon enough,” Tony says purposefully cryptically. He knows how curious his Peter is, and he is so close to getting him back.

“Whatever, old man,” Peter waves him off, but Tony knows he got under his skin.

Peter pulls a knife out, his favorite, Tony notes. He expects it before shrugging and walking closer to Tony.

Eventually, Peter is standing right in front of him. He puts his hands on Tony’s forearms and leans forward, now face to face with Tony. He says, “You know, we could stop all this if you could just give us what we want.”

“Peter, with all due respect, fuck you.”

The knife is placed under his chin, lifting it up.

“Because I’m feeling generous today, I’ll give you one more chance to tell me Steve Roger’s location,” Peter says the words just as tough and unaffected as he always does, but Tony can see it in his eyes.

Peter wants Tony to tell him, but not because it is what Hydra wants. He wants Tony to tell him so that he doesn’t have to torture him. That is the Peter he needs to talk to. He just has to keep going for a little while longer.

Tony doesn’t break eye contact while he says, “I have nothing for you.”

“If that’s how you want it to be, then fine,” Peter says.

He discards the knife and walks towards the wall. Crap. Tony wishes he would have stuck with the knife.

Peter flips the switch and Tony’s body is on fire. Electrocution hurts like a bitch. He isn’t in control of his movements as he flops around as much as he can while still tied up.

Eventually, Peter flips the switch off and Tony’s body goes slack against the chair.

“I don’t get why you don’t just give me the location. I know you know where he is. You don’t even like him, so why try to save him from us?” Peter asks.

“It’s not him I’m trying to save,” Tony confesses truthfully.

“Who are you trying to save then? Hmm? Yourself?”

_It’s you, you idiot_. Tony wants to say.

“Wow, you really are a selfish bastard,” Peter says, hand reaching up for the switch.

Then, his body is on fire again.

This time that the metal door opened, it woke Tony up.

It took Tony a few seconds, but eventually his brain caught up with what he was seeing.

Peter is standing in the doorway, staring at him. He is sweating, and Tony can’t tell from what. He shakes his head and closes the door and latches it shut behind him.

“So, how are you today?” Tony asks, as usual.

“Cut the bullcrap,” Peter orders.

“Excuse me? You are too young to be using that sort of language, mister,” Tony says jokingly.

“Uh, just shut up!” Peter yells.

He doesn’t sound like he did before. He almost sounds like-

“Peter?” Tony asks, warily.

“Yeah, who did you think it was?”

“No. Are you my Peter? Are you back to me?” Tony asks.

“I- uh- don’t know,” Peter answers, holding his head in his hands. He continues, “I think so, but I can still feel the chemicals in me and I still listen to them when they tell me to do something. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“You don’t have to,” Tony says, “just untie me and we’ll figure this out together. We’ll get out together, do you hear me?”

Peter hits his head against the wall in defeat. If not for the otherwise total silence in the room, Tony wouldn’t have heard him say, “I was told specifically not to do that, and I still can’t disobey them, okay?”

“Why?”

“I just can’t!” Peter shouts.

Peter turns around so that he’s facing Tony, but his back is still against the wall, as if he is afraid to get any closer.

“Why is this happening to me?” Peter whines.

“I actually have a theory on that, but I can’t share that with you because you are still compromised.”

Peter huffs and says, “This sucks.”

“I know, kiddo, but we’ll be out of here soon enough.”

Peter shoots him a weird look and says, “I don’t think you’ve ever called me that.”

“What? Kiddo? I’m positive I have,” He’s not actually sure, he’s just trying to keep Peter’s mind occupied.

“I don’t think you have. In fact, I’m not sure you really use nicknames for me.”

“Well that’s going to change when we get out of here,” Tony promises.

“If we get out of here,” Peter says solemnly.

Tony shakes his head vigorously, “I did not go through all of that only for you to give up on us, no way, Peter.”

“Hey, I thought we were gonna do nicknames?”

“That will start once we’re out of here.”

Peter takes a few hesitant steps forward and says, “You know I have to ask, Tony, so please just tell me where he is.”

Tony shakes his head, “I can’t do that, not when I’m so close to getting you back.”

“I can’t take it though, I can’t hurt you any more than I already have. If you tell me his location then I get to leave you alone,” Peter argues.

“What do you think happens to me once they get their info, huh? They’re gonna kill me, Peter, and you don’t need that on your conscience.”

Peter makes a pained face, and Tony can tell he’s fighting an internal battle.

“I have to do this,” Peter says through gritted teeth.

“I know you do,” Tony says in what he thinks is the softest voice he’s ever used, “It’s okay, Peter. I forgive you.”

“How can you forgive me for something I haven’t even done yet?” Peter questions.

“Because I love you,” Tony responds simply.

Peter has another war with himself before he lets out a pained, “I love you, too.”

Peter draws out a gun from a holster on his hip. Tony’s eyes snap up to Peter’s face to find silent tears streaming from the boys big, brown eyes.

“Are you going to shoot me?” Tony hesitantly asks.

“No.”

“No, Peter, don’t even think about it,” Tony orders.

“I love you,” Peter whispers.

“Guards!” Tony shouts. He would rather they both be kept here forever than have this happen, have to watch this.

Nobody comes.

“Peter, get that gun out of your hand.”

An explosion from somewhere in the building causes Peter to drop the gun.

“What was that?” He asks, scared.

Then, he is listening to something in his earpiece.

“What are they telling you?” Tony demands to know.

“Apparently the Avengers stormed the building and are here. They are probably looking for you,” Peter says, then continues listening, “Shit.”

“Shit? What’s shit?” Tony asks.

Peter looks Tony dead in the eyes and says, “They want me to kill you.”

Tony follows Peter’s eyes to the floor to see him eyeing the gun.

“Do you want to know why I think that their control over you is gradually lifting off?” Tony asks, desperate to buy them some time, even if it is just a few minutes.

“Yes,” Peter says, eyes not leaving the gun.

“Well, basically you started to become immune to it. Your special spider DNA helped you to build up a tolerance to the stuff, and they haven’t increased your doses at all, I’m guessing?”

“You would be correct.”

Peter’s eyes are still trained on the gun, contemplating what to do with it.

“You can fight this,” Tony promises.

“Even if I can, we have Hydra soldiers headed our way. The chances of both of us getting out of here are slim to none.”

“That’s the kind of optimism I’m looking for at this moment,” Tony retorts back.

Peter’s face contorts before he says, “But we may as well increase our chances as much as we can.” Then, he takes the earpiece out of his ear and throws it on the floor before crushing it with his boot.

Tony watches as Peter makes his way over to him and swiftly unties his ropes. Peter helps Tony stand since he hasn’t in a while.

He looks the kid in the eyes and sees his Peter. He tells his soulmate, “Let’s go.”

Peter nods and Tony picks the gun up off the floor. Tony asks, “What else you got on you?”

“Just my knife and some extra bullets,” Peter says.

“Give me the bullets,” Tony orders. Peter is quick to abide and hands them over.

Peter unlocks the door and Tony steps into the empty hallway first. He allows Peter to lead them since he knows this place better.

“We just need to get out of here or find an Avenger. They’ll help us, don’t worry,” Tony says. He knows it’s not a coincidence that they happen to be raiding the Hydra facility he was in.

Peter nods and asks, “Do you think they know I’m Spider-Man?”

“Doesn’t matter what they know, I’ll make them all keep their big mouths shut if they do know anything.”

They walk in silence as the fighting and chaos seems to get closer.

Tony places his hand on Peter’s shoulder and orders, “Get behind me.”

“Why? I know this place better than you and I’m enhanced,” Peter argues.

“Well,” Tony starts, “I am carrying a gun and I’m the adult. Plus, if any of the Avengers see you, they could shoot you in that get-up.”

Peter looks down as if noticing his Hydra apparel for the first time before letting Tony in front of him saying, “Okay, go keep going straight and take a right at the fifth corner.”

Tony nods and heads down the hallway with Peter behind him, knife out. Tony stops at each corner and checks to make sure no one is coming for them. They haven’t run into any Hydra agents or Avengers yet, which is weird.

When Tony turns around to check on Peter, he sees that he has stopped and he is a few paces behind him.

“What’s wrong?” Tony asks.

Peter looks all around him and says, “Someone’s coming, but I can’t tell from where. Something bad is going to happen.”

Then, Tony sees it.

A dozen or so soldiers dressed exactly like Peter are coming from where they just came. Tony take a few quick steps and places himself in front of Peter, gun at the ready.

The man that Tony hasn’t seen since the first day, the man in charge, steps forward through the soldiers, who all have their machine guns at the ready, aimed at the two of them.

The man says, “We have all we need from you, Tony. Give us the boy and we will let you go.”

“I don’t think so,” Tony quips training his gun on the main man.

“We need our asset, we are not letting him leave here.”

Tony spares a glance at Peter, who is looking at him with wide eyes. He may be able to take down a few of the men, but they’ll both certainly be shot. They’re outnumbered and Tony really wishes he had his suit.

There is a hand on his shoulder and Peter says, “Let me go, Tony. There is no way we are both getting out of this. At least this way you’ll be able to live.”

Tony shakes his head, “Not gonna happen, Pete, stay behind me.”

“Pete, ha! That counts as a nickname,” Peter exclaims.

“Now’s not really the time, Peter.”

“And we’re back to Peter,” He sighs.

Tony has just about worked out how he can do the most damage before being shot when he sees something fly from behind the group of men to right in between them. He sees the Hydra soldiers scramble to put on their masks.

They aren’t fast enough, and neither is Tony. He turns to face Peter who puts his own mask over Tony’s mouth. He looks at the kid, confused, until Peter collapses in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These Tony & Peter interactions were so fun to write! I hope you guys liked them, I tried to capture their relationship in the MCU, but obviously added my own twist to it because of the differences in the universes. Let me know what you guys think, you're comments make me so freaking happy!!!


	5. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to post this last Friday, but I forgot before I left on vacation! I am posting this on my phone so sorry for any weird formatting. I will fix it when I have my laptop again on Friday or Saturday. Enjoy!

Out of the smoke emerges a figure, also wearing a mask.

Tony rolls his eyes and asks through his mask, “Is that enough with the dramatics?”

Natasha takes off her own mask, so Tony assumes it’s safe for him to do so, also.

She responds, “It only knocked them out. There was no way I was getting you out of here with all of them conscious. I knew you were right there, which is why I didn’t throw a grenade. I’ll clean this up if you want to head out.”

She hands him a map of the place and points to where they are currently at. He knows what she means when she says ‘clean this up.’

Tony immediately points to Peter and says, “This one’s with me. He was kidnapped, same as me. He was brainwashed, and he’s coming with me.”

“Tony, if he’s brainwashed, we can’t risk bringing him back with us.”

“I’m not leaving here without him,” Tony says stubbornly as he leans down to pick Peter up, “He’s under my protection,” he says, daring her to argue.

She doesn’t and says, “Fine, I’ll cover you and have someone else deal with this mess.”

Natasha takes lead and Tony follows with Peter in his arms. She shoots a few Hydra soldiers on their way out, but it seems, for the most part, the Avengers have cleared the facility.

They make it out to the Quinjet where Tony lays Peter on a bed.

Bucky Barnes of all people approaches him and asks, “Why did you bring a Hydra soldier onboard?”

“Because he was kidnapped and brainwashed. Anybody who wants a go at him has to go through me,” Tony says the last statement loud enough for everyone to hear.

Bucky asks, “So does that mean you forgive me? Tony, I want you to know that I really am sorr-”

“My mom is still dead, so no, I don’t forgive you. I just no longer have the urge to kill you,” Tony interrupts. He can see Steve physically relax now that he knows Tony isn’t going to try to kill his best friend.

Clint asks, “So, how’d you know the kid?”

“We were kidnapped together, as I said earlier,” Tony answers simply. He doesn’t really want his relationship with Peter getting out. That would just put Peter in danger.

Clint shoots him a look that says he doesn’t believe him, but he isn’t going to push it. Smart man.

His relationship with the Avengers is complicated. He would like to say that they were allies, friends, even, until Steve betrayed him.

“Still missing Bruce?” Tony asks.

Natasha answers, “We are still looking for him, but we believe he is somewhere our satellites can’t reach.”

That sucks. Bruce was definitely his favorite Avenger. Probably because the man was just as against them forming as Tony was.

“What the hell is that?” Sam asks as he takes a step closer to Peter, “Does that say what I think it says?” he asks, pointing to Peter’s right wrist.

Tony quickly pulls Peter’s sleeve down and orders Sam, “You saw nothing.”

Sam doesn’t listen, “I thought you didn’t have a soulmate.”

Steve’s eyebrows draw together, “Tony, why didn’t you tell us about him?”

Tony sighs, “I only met him a little while ago, after we fell out. The reason I didn’t tell you ever was, well, this,” Tony says as he shows them Peter’s left wrist, which also had his name on it.

There a few gasps before Tony says, “Look, it’s complicated, but I care about the kid. Leave him alone, okay? He’s actually a really good kid, which I know probably means nothing coming from me.”

Steve places his hand on Tony’s shoulder, “I believe you, Tony. We’ll drop you two off at Stark Tower if that’s what you want.”

Tony nods and says, “Thank you. And thank you guys for coming to get me.”

Steve takes a step back as Natasha stands on Tony’s other side, “I know that we have a complicated past, but we care about you, Tony. You saved all of our lives on more than one occasion, and we trust you.”

The rest of them nod as if they agree with the sentiment, and Tony feels oddly touched. He had always liked the idea of being part of a team that would always have his back, but he always thought he’d never fit in.

Tony runs a hand through Peter’s hair, then grabs his hand, needing the physical closeness to remind him that Peter’s okay. Peter’s okay. Peter’s fine.

Clint says, “Thought I’d never see you go soft.”

“I’m not soft,” Tony says, “and anybody who thinks so is getting their ass kicked.”

“So what’s his name?” Sam asks.

“It’s Peter. He’s just a kid, so I’m not letting you guys pull him into this crap, okay?”

“What do you mean?” Steve asks.

Tony can’t tell them that Peter’s Spider-Man because that would be a huge betrayal of Peter’s trust. Plus, the less people know he’s Spider-Man, the better.

“What I mean is that he’s a good kid and he’s under my protection. I don’t like him getting dragged into this kind of stuff. He was taken because of his connection to me, so if you could not tell anyone about how he’s my soulmate, then I won’t kill you all.”

Clint rolls his eyes and says, “We’ll keep your little secret, but I’m not forgetting that this side of you exists anytime soon.”

“Only for him,” Tony mumbles. He really doesn’t feel like arguing about this with Clint. He keeps his eyes trained on Peter to see that he’s still doing fine.

They ride in relative silence after that. When they land at Stark Tower, Tony sends them a nod of thanks and picks Peter up and carries him to Medbay.

He sets Peter down gently on the bed and calls over a doctor to check him over. Once the doctor is done with Peter, he lets her treat his own wounds. They are both going to be fine, they just need some rest and time to heal. Luckily with Peter’s healing factor, he should be up and as peppy as ever soon.

Tony pulls a chair next to Peter’s bed once the doctor leaves. He grabs the kid’s hand again, finding an odd amount of comfort in the gesture. He hasn’t really felt this way since his mom died. He pushed his only friend away after the fact, which he regrets now. If he wasn’t so worried about the kid’s wellbeing, he would call Rhodey up right now.

There will be plenty of time to mend broken bridges later, for now, he just needs to be with his soulmate.

“What do you want to show me?” Peter asks as Tony drags him down to the lab. He had just got released from Medbay, and Tony was obviously eager to show him something. May had visited him yesterday, but left him with Tony when she had to go to work. He was glad they were getting along, he was worried May might not like Tony.

“It’s something that I’ve been working on for a while now,” Tony says cryptically.

“You’re not going to kill me, are you?” Peter asks, mostly joking. To be fair, they did not get off to a good start.

Tony rolls his eyes, “If I wanted you dead, Parker, I would have just left you on that jet with the Avengers.”

“I still can’t believe that I met all of the Avengers and I wasn’t even conscious!” Peter exclaims.

“They aren’t even that impressive.”

Peter shoots him a look of disbelief, but drops the subject. He’s never been in Tony’s lab before, so seeing all of the tech and Iron Man suits is definitely an awesome experience. Even the labs at Oscorp had not been this advanced. 

“You wanted to show me your lab?” Peter asks, confused but not disappointed.

Tony clears his throat, “I actually wanted to give you something.”

Peter remains silent as Tony taps a few buttons on his watch that bring up the Spider-Man suit he has been working on and perfecting. It has Peter’s simple red and blue color scheme, with a small spider on the chest that can act as recon.

Tony begins to explain the suit to Peter, “There are many different web shooter combinations as well as filters to help when you get sensory overloads. You have your own AI that I could transfer to your phone or computer, if you’d like. There is a training course I want you to take before you start rescuing cats from trees and such.”

Tony looks at Peter, waiting for him to say something. That he likes it. That he hates it.

“So, what do you think, kiddo?”

“This is, for me?” Peter asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, I started making it when I found out you were Spider-Man. I was going to give it to you sooner, but I didn’t think you’d accept it-”

“I can’t accept this,” Peter interrupts.

“Why not?”

Peter sighs before he says, “This suit is very advanced, and I don’t deserve it. You shouldn’t trust me with it.”

Tony has to take a moment to realize what Peter is saying before he responds, “I don’t blame you for what you did, Peter. You were under the influence of mind control. I forgive you.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t,” Peter argues, “If I can’t stop myself from hurting my own soulmate, how am I supposed to be trusted with the safety of the people of Queens?”

Tony places a hand on Peter’s shoulder and says, “I don’t think you were my soulmate.”

Peter shoots him a questioning look, so Tony continues, “That Peter Parker, the brainwashed one, was my enemy. He was my enemy because he stopped me from seeing you, my soulmate.”

Peter rolls his eyes and asks, “Then who is my enemy?”

“Your enemy was me, before I met you. I was a bad person that stopped you from being happy and meeting your soulmate, and for that, I’m sorry, Pete.”

He shrugs and says, “Well, things were bad, but they’re better now.”

Tony takes a deep breath before he confesses, “I don’t know what the future holds for us. What I do know is that right here and now, Peter Parker, you are my soulmate.”

Peter smiles and says, “Well, I guess I’ll take the suit as long as you think I can be trusted with it.”

“There’s no one I trust more than you, kiddo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought please, I hope you enjoyed my story!


End file.
